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Commissioners Decisions

Folders are organised by post-1974 local government counties, even where decisions pre-dated local government reorganisation, or were made after the creation of unitary authorities in the 1990s or later. So, for example, decisions relating to Pembrokeshire will be found in Dyfed, and decisions relating to the London Borough of Merton will be found in Greater London.

To search the database please click on the county required from the menu. Then use your internet browser search facility (generally Ctrl + F) to search for the name of the common or village green, or the register unit number, which you are looking for in the county folder. If the first hit is not the one you are looking click on 'find next'.

These decisions have been scanned from the original typewritten records.Because of the poor quality of the records, optical character recognition software could not be used and the files are presented solely as scanned images. If you have a sight impairment and require assistance in examining the files, please contact Defra at commons.villagegreens@defra.gsi.gov.uk or defra.helpline@defra.gsi.gov.uk.

Defra holds over 12,000 Commons Commissioners' decisions as scanned documents. The Commons Registration Act 1965 required local authorities in England and Wales to establish registers of common land and town or village greens within their areas; recording the extent of the land, the owners of the land and rights of common held over them. Commons Commissioners were appointed to settle disputed entries, and to determine the ownership of unclaimed common land and greens.

Please note that Defra does not hold a complete set of all commons commissioners decisions. Defra knows that some decisions are missing from this collection, and are currently working to identify the missing cases. A number of new decisions have been added from October 2008 for the pilot areas implementing Part 1 of the Commons Act 2006.

Please also note that if a relevant decision can not be found on the list, please contact the appropriate local authority who should hold paper copies on file.

Newton Green in Suffolk, with stormy weather approaching

CLICK BELOW FOR A LIST OF COMMONS AND GREENS SORTED NUMBERICALLY FOR EASE OF REFERENCE